The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Poinsettia plant, botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd., and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘BKPONCH’.
The new Poinsettia plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in De Kwakel, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new freely branching Poinsettia plants that have red-colored flower bracts and good postproduction longevity.
The new Poinsettia plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in February, 2007 in De Kwakel, The Netherlands of a proprietary selection of Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. identified as code number 204155-033, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. identified as code number 205265-001, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Poinsettia plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in De Kwakel, The Netherlands in March, 2008.
Asexual reproduction of the new Poinsettia plant by terminal vegetative cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in De Kwakel, The Netherlands since June, 2009 has shown that the unique features of this new Poinsettia plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.